This invention relates to sport shoes and particularly to a novel construction for golf shoes.
A golf shoe must firmly and securely support the user's foot and must prevent slipping during use. The latter requirement is fulfilled by providing a plurality of spikes projecting from the shoe bottom and mounted thereto by internally threaded sockets between layers making up the shoe sole. Shoe stiffness and support is achieved according to the prior art by employing a strengthening shank made of a metal or another material disposed within the shoe sole. It is desirable, however, to provide an improved shank which provides greater torsional stiffness and lateral support for the user's foot than provided by existing shank designs. It is, accordingly, a principal aspect of this invention to provide an improved golf shoe shank which enhances the torsional rigidity and lateral arch support of the shoe.
Manufacturers of golf shoes now offer so-called soft-type construction shoes which have a substantially flat bottom outsole, a midsole layer and a heel wedge positioned between the shoe insole and the midsole. These shoes are typically constructed by employing adhesive bonding compounds between the above-mentioned layers making up the sole. Thus, if the bonding agents fail due to any one of a number of potential causes, the shoe components become separated, which often requires that the shoes be replaced. Accordingly, it is a further principal aspect of this invention to provide stitching between the shoe midsole and outsole to provide redundant means for fastening the components together. These stitchings obviate problems of premature bonding failure. Although using stitches of thread to fasten together shoe sole parts is well known for welt-type construction shoes, it is not currently employed in connection with so-called soft-type shoes which are of bonded construction.
Additional benefits and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention relates upon a reading of the described preferred embodiments of this invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.